Affordable housing earmarked for $60 million

Redevelopment wind down requires disposal of sites

The Hotel Churchill at Eighth Avenue and C Street would be reopened as a single-room-occupancy, low-income residential hotel under a plan by the San Diego Housing Commission and Civic San Diego.
— -- San Diego Housing Commission

The Hotel Churchill at Eighth Avenue and C Street would be reopened as a single-room-occupancy, low-income residential hotel under a plan by the San Diego Housing Commission and Civic San Diego.
/ -- San Diego Housing Commission

The Monarch School on Cedar Street, the Market Street Square apartments and several vacant lots downtown and in Southeastern San Diego all were left in limbo last year when the state closed down San Diego's redevelopment agency.

Now Civic San Diego, the city's new agency in charge of neighborhood revitalization, has come up with a plan to deal with 23 affordable housing sites and continue to produce new homes for the homeless and other low-income San Diegans at least for a couple of more years.

The bottomline: $65 million generated from sales and various income streams to help produce more than 1,000 housing units, including 396 for the homeless.

Some would be built downtown, such as in the historic Hotel Churchill at Eighth Avenue and C Street, and others outside Centre City.

"Geographic diversity must be implemented as much as possible," said CivicSD director Cynthia Morgan at last week's board meeting. "I do believe we'll get a lot more bang for the buck in other project areas than downtown, not that downtown doesn't have affordable housing needs. Everywhere needs more affordable housing."

The plan, subject to City Council approval possibly later this month, would do the following:

Retain nine sites that have long-term affordable housing agreements.

Sell six sites, including the 192-unit Market Street Square project south of Horton Plaza shopping center and the federal child care center on Broadway to generate a projected $27.6 million.

Keep eight vacant sites, or those with buildings that can be demolished, for future projects.

Use $32.9 million in remaining housing bond funds and $5.5 million in cost savings from other projects to aid developers who need fill a gap in their financial packages.

Under the old redevelopment plan, the city was able to generate around $40 million annually from earmarked property taxes for affordable housing projects and programs. Those funds now flow mostly to school districts and the Legislature is considering new ways to finance much needed housing for low-income families.

"As a consequence, optimizing the use of the remaining housing assets is vital until a new replacement funding source is identified," said CivicSD project manager Eri Kameyama in a staff report.

Monarch School: The homeless students' school has moved to Barrio Logan, leaving the building at 808 W. Cedar St. available for redevelopment. Proposed is a 50-unit affordable housing project with 15 percent of the units set aside for supportive housing for the homeless. A developer would be sought next year and $7.5 million set aside as a subsidy.

Hotel Churchill: This 1915, seven-story building at 827 C St., a single-room-occupancy hotel for 94 residents, closed since 2005, was bought by the San Diego Housing Commission. Named for the hotel developer Orrin O. Churchill (not the British statesman Winston Churchill), it was once repainted and remodeled to resemble a medieval castle but it has since deteriorated. The housing commission estimates rehabilitation costs at $19 million, including $3 million from CivicSD's housing fund. The housing commission hopes to reopen the building in 2014 or so with 92 units, including 57 for very low-income residents and 35 for low-income persons.

The Bright Horizons-Kids on Broadway child care center is proposed to close in 2015 and the site be redeveloped for housing.- Roger Showley

+Read Caption

The Bright Horizons-Kids on Broadway child care center is proposed to close in 2015 and the site be redeveloped for housing.

Federal childcare center: Located at 475 W. Broadway, this one-story facility operated by Bright Horizons-Kids on Broadway serves 80 children. The Tower Theater once occupied the site that was cleared at the time downtown residential redevelopment began in the 1980s. (The theater's neon marquee was saved and installed at Croce's restaurant in the Gaslamp Quarter.) CivicSD proposes to sell the 26,905-square-foot site along with an adjacent 15,000-square-foot parking lot for a new housing project. Steve Chu, president of Kids on Broadway, said his group is exploring all options. "We have had a good working relationship with the city of San Diego and we look forward to working with the city and other relevant parties as we continue providing quality childcare moving forward," Chu said.

Market Street Square apartments' ground lease would be sold to the project's owner and if redeveloped would be required to include 40 affordable units.- Roger Showley

+Read Caption

Market Street Square apartments' ground lease would be sold to the project's owner and if redeveloped would be required to include 40 affordable units.

-Market Street Square: Developed in the 1980s as part of the Horton Plaza redevelopment project, the 192 apartments at 606 Third Ave. sit on land leased from the city. CivicSD proposes to sell the property to the lessee and require any new redevelopment maintain at least 40 units as affordable. CivicSD President Jeff Graham said it makes to sell this and other high-value sites to generate cash for housing projects on less expensive land.